Court upholds Franklin manslaughter conviction

6:27 PM,
Nov. 14, 2013

Mike Martinez

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A state appellate court has upheld the reckless manslaughter conviction of a township man in connection with a fatal stabbing in the parking lot of a hotel on New Year's Eve in 2004.

Mike Martinez, 28, is serving a 15-year sentence at the Garden State Youth Correctional Facility in Yardville after he was convicted in 2009 of stabbing Kerron Butler to death during a fight in the parking lot of the Clarion Suites hotel. Martinez is not eligible for parole until March 26, 2020.

Martinez appealed both his conviction and the sentence given by Superior Court Judge Edward Coleman. ...